Chapter 355: Luke: Where Do You Think You're Going!
"…"
"…"
The atmosphere was silent, but it was not especially awkward.
Instead, it had become faintly ambiguous.
Luke looked at Edelweiss opposite him, whose face was red and whose eyes kept drifting around.
Several times, he wanted to speak, but he only opened his mouth and then had no idea what to say.
To be honest, Luke was still a little dumbfounded even now.
What was this situation?
I treated you as an opponent, but you wanted to sleep with me??
Of course, that was just a joke.
Still, he really was somewhat at a loss.
It was not that Luke was especially dense, nor that he was especially passive when it came to relationships.
On the contrary, Luke had originally been a fairly proactive person.
The main reason he had become like this now was because of his nine-year adventurer life in the Dungeon world.
It was not an exaggeration to say that an adventurer's life was dry and monotonous.
In that world, in the Labyrinth City of Orario, there was almost no form of entertainment.
Training, exploring the Dungeon, killing, resting, shopping—this was basically the entirety of an adventurer's life.
And among adventurers, Luke's lifestyle had been even more extreme.
As a swordsman, his own life was already dry and monotonous, and then it was combined with an equally monotonous adventurer career.
During those nine years in Orario, Luke's lifestyle had been quite extreme.
There was no internet, no entertainment, and no constant stream of fresh things or highly circulated information.
Only battle and slaughter accompanied him.
The only activities that could be called "entertainment" were probably taking care of little Ais and interacting with the members of the Loki Familia.
It was not that this life was bad.
After all, all adventurers lived like this, and even Luke himself felt that his life had been very fulfilling.
However, Luke ultimately came from a modern society where technology was highly developed.
The fact that he adapted to an adventurer's life also meant his personality had changed greatly.
The influence of environment on people was enormous.
Those nine years as an adventurer changed Luke from a youthful and reckless boy into a calm and composed young man.
The growth of age and the accumulation of experience made Luke's way of handling matters vastly different from before.
One only had to think back to when he had been in Asterisk City to understand.
Although there had been some external factors affecting him back then, compared to now, he had been far more flamboyant.
The current Luke had lost some of his willfulness and some of his youthful recklessness.
In exchange, he had gained a bit more maturity and steadiness.
He would not make decisions as rashly as he once had.
However.
That did not mean Luke had changed from active to passive when facing feelings.
Compared to Edelweiss, who had fallen into shyness because of her "confession" and could not recover, Luke had actually calmed down very quickly.
The reason he opened his mouth several times without speaking was only because he did not know how much of what Edelweiss had just said was credible.
After all, he could also tell from Edelweiss's reaction that her "confession" just now had clearly been unintentional.
But it was precisely because of this reaction that it at least proved she did not dislike him.
It was even possible that she had vaguely developed some faint favorable feelings.
Luke was not an indecisive person, but his relationship experience was not rich.
If Edelweiss had merely said the wrong thing, and it was nothing more than a misunderstanding, then he would naturally smile lightly and gloss over the topic.
If Edelweiss had truly confessed to him, then he would not hesitate to give her a response either.
However, facing this situation that happened to fall right in the middle, he was somewhat unsure how to handle it.
Just as he was feeling troubled, a certain young man's words suddenly surfaced in his mind.
"I believe encounters with the opposite sex are directly connected to getting stronger!"
Luke still remembered the sight of that inexperienced rookie boy mustering the courage to refute him.
Bell Cranel.
The protagonist of the Dungeon world.
The white-haired boy who had once explained the "Zeus Theory" to him.
Encounters with the opposite sex and building a harem were the source of a hero's strength.
In Luke's memory, that seemed to be what the boy had told him back then.
Honestly, it did not sound like any proper theory at all.
Luke had no intention of using that theory as the standard for his actions.
It was only because it was at least an opinion spoken by a god that he had reluctantly kept it in mind.
However, at this very moment, after recalling those words, Luke suddenly discovered in surprise that this seemingly unserious "Zeus Theory" seemed to have gained a little credibility.
Looking back on his encounter with Edelweiss, before and after that, Luke's strength had undergone an earth-shaking change.
From Edelweiss, he learned the Twin-Wings sword.
Because of his battle with Edelweiss, he touched the realm of Sword Domain ahead of time.
Not only that, even Shigure-Soen-Ryu, which had been unable to break through all this time, had expanded in a brand-new direction.
There were also the Dual-Life-Sword techniques he had learned in order to fight Edelweiss, and the Star Swordsmanship secret technique that had finally been perfected because of the Twin-Wings sword.
Looking back on all the changes brought about by his encounter with Edelweiss, Luke had to admit that encounters with the opposite sex really did seem connected to getting stronger…
The belief that boy had stubbornly held back then might… be true?
Luke was also a little uncertain.
After all, it could also be a coincidence.
But…
What if?
His heart moved slightly, and Luke made a decision.
…
The silence continued.
And as the ambiguous feeling gradually rose, the first one unable to withstand it was Edelweiss.
She felt as if her face were on fire.
The longer the silence continued, the shier she became.
But asking her to open her mouth and continue the topic was even more impossible.
If she really did that, she might die of embarrassment right here.
And so, Edelweiss, restless in her seat, chose to run away!
Although this was not a battle, it was indeed the first time in her life that she had chosen to avoid something.
"I-I'll go get some more apple p-pie!"
Standing up in a slight panic, Edelweiss could barely even speak clearly right now.
She pushed her chair away and hurriedly tried to run to the side.
However, Luke did not give her that chance!
Snap—!
Luke, who also stood up, directly grabbed Edelweiss's soft hand, causing her escape plan to fail before it even began.
"Eek!"
Edelweiss, who was suddenly attacked, instantly panicked.
She instinctively let out a cute cry.
Afterward, she questioned Luke while extremely nervous and incoherent.
"W-W-W-W-What are you trying to do?!"
Luke looked at Edelweiss, whom he had pulled back.
Looking at her adorable, flustered appearance, he found it a little hard to believe that this was the reaction of Twin-Wings.
However, in the next instant, the mysterious aura gradually rising from her made Luke understand.
The person before him was indeed still that Twin-Wings.
In order to avoid being torn to pieces by Desperado power, Luke immediately adjusted his mindset and spoke to Edelweiss seriously.
"Let's try dating!"
"Eh?"
"EHHHHHH?!?!?!"
…
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